


Inevitably, Irrevocably

by Verai



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, High Honor Arthur Morgan, Location Spoilers, Major character death - Freeform, Original Character - Freeform, RDR1 Spoilers, Supernatural - Freeform, rdr2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-04 13:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17305460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verai/pseuds/Verai
Summary: After finding a strange cabin in the bayou, Arthur comes across a woman who knows him, yet he can’t remember her for the life of him. She seems to know more than she lets on, and tells him about things that she shouldn’t know about.





	1. Trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to get this out of my system. I didn't sign up for these feels, goddammit. This story starts around chapter 3 and ends after chapter 6 of the game, so spoilers ahoy. Also playing with certain timeline elements in regards to the cabin in this first chapter.

Nora sat on the table, watching a dapperly dressed man paint a self portrait. His top hat was slightly askew as he put another stroke of oil onto the painting. Around the small cabin were other paintings, a deer, an eagle, a sunset, a mountain. 

 

“You sure he'll show up here?” 

 

“Yes. That boy likes to wander.”

 

“Why are you letting me handle this one?”

 

“I'll handle the other boy.”

 

“That won't be for a while, right?” 

 

“Yes.”

 

“You never answered my other question.” 

 

The man in the top hat answered her patiently. “Because you need to learn how to open doors without leading someone through it.”

 

Nora huffed. When she died, she didn't count on being dragged from her body into this strange limbo existence. She didn't know what she was signing up for when the man in the top hat came up to her and offered to make her a, what was it… She couldn't remember the term he used.

 

This was part of her training. To be a good, whatever it was, she had to learn how to offer a choice without any bias, how to lead someone to their true path without leading them on. 

 

A whinny outside of the cabin made her look up. 

 

“Told you,” the man in the top hat said. 

 

Nora sighed, got off the table, and hid in the corner to watch. 

 

A gruff looking man with a few days beard slowly walked in. He made a beeline for the snake oil tonic on the table and picked it up. But before he could put it in his satchel, he took in all of the paintings, the words on the walls, and the newspaper clippings with a growing look of disbelief. 

 

“What in the hell…” he trailed off, until he looked in the mirror. 

 

Over his shoulder, he saw the man in the top hat, standing casually behind. 

 

Quickly turning around, he saw nothing. Turning back to the mirror, he was still seeing the man, who had not moved, but was now smiling. 

 

“I must be goin’ crazy,” he muttered as he dropped the bottle, turned, and left the cabin.

 

Once the door shut, Nora stepped out from the corner, and the man in the top hat chuckled. 

 

“It looks like he's turning himself around,” he said, sounding pleased with himself at the pun. 

 

Ignoring the joke, Nora asked, “What do you mean? He just looked like some outlaw.”

 

The man in the top hat gestured towards the deer painting. “That painting could have been of a wolf: strong, loyal, vicious, and deadly.”

 

He walked closer to the deer painting and caressed the frame lovingly. “But he has chosen this path, the deer. He is moving towards kindness and peace.”

 

“Well, that's good, right?” 

 

“We’re just here to test them, that’s all.”

 

“You seem happy that he went this way, though.”

 

He did not respond, but the corner of his mouth twitched. 

 

Nora waited while the man stared at the deer for a few moments. Then he turned to her. 

 

“Use the bottle to track him. Lead him to his fate.”

 

Nora nodded.

 

“And remember: your job is to only show him the crossroads. The rest is up to him.”

 

Nora nodded once more, picked up the bottle, and focused on the lingering life energy she felt. 

 

***

 

She teleported, following the energy to a spot in the middle of the plains. Sighing, she did what she was taught. She set up a campfire and waited. 

 

And waited. 

 

As the sun set below the hills, a horse & rider came around the path. Seeing her, they slowed and started heading in her direction. 

 

“Mind if I share your fire for a bit?” the man asked, his voice a bit raspy. 

 

“Go on ahead,” she said mildly. In the firelight, she watched as he got off his horse, pulled out some whiskey, and sat on the ground across from her. 

 

After a few swigs, he held the bottle out to her. She shook her head, he shrugged, and capped the bottle. 

 

“So what brings you out to the middle of nowhere?” Nora asked. 

 

“Huntin’. What about'chu?” 

 

Nora was silent for a second while she debated how to respond. She had seen how the man in the top hat operated; a little antagonistic, a little prophetic, vague as all get out. Could she go the same route? But the man had told her before to trust her instincts.

 

“Waiting for the right person,” she said after a while. 

 

“What's that s'posed to mean?” he asked, curious. 

 

She slowly crawled over to him, and he watched her warily as she reached out to him. Like trying to pet a wild animal, Nora tentatively placed a hand on his arm. The instant she had skin contact, she felt a jolt of knowledge flooding into her mind. It almost overwhelmed her. 

 

She saw his past, she saw his end. Tears started forming in her eyes as she pulled away. Blinking them away, she took a deep breath. 

 

“Arthur,” she said breathily. 

 

Arthur started to reach for his gun. “Do I know you?” 

 

“Maybe. I certainly know you,” she responded. “You're living near Rhodes now, correct?” 

 

Arthur did not reply. 

 

Nora continued. “Look around the building of the gunsmith. You might find something interesting.”

 

He raised an eyebrow at her weird command, then he got up and dusted himself off. “Sure, sure. Thanks for the fire,” he said, clearly wanting to leave and wasting no time in doing so. 

 

“Any time,” Nora said, nodding at him. “See you soon,” she added softly. 

 

Arthur shook his head as he got back on his horse and galloped away. Nora shivered, still not used to this feeling of knowing someone so intimately after a mere touch. 

 

“You did well,” a voice behind her said, a playful tone in his voice. 

 

Nora jumped. “Dammit, don't do that.”

 

The man in the top hat chuckled. “You have the ability to truly sense the world now; my mere appearance shouldn't startle you.”

 

Sighing, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and  _ felt _ the world around her. The world was a quilt of colors except for a blank spot where the man in the top hat stood. It wasn't like a black hole, more like an absence of anything, like she couldn't look directly at it. Small ripples surrounded the spot where he stood, and as he walked around and squatted down next to her, the colors moved in an unnatural way, as if it was getting out of his way. 

 

“What _are_ you?” she asked after she opened her eyes. 

 

The man looked intently at her as he answered. “Everything that is, everything that was, and everything that will be.”

 

Nora shivered. 

 

The man stood back up. “Let me teach you how to keep track of someone now that you've connected with him.” He started to walk towards the horizon.

 

She stood up and followed him, shaking off the nagging feeling that the man was much more than he let on.

 

***

 

Nora sat in the corner of the gunsmith in Rhodes, unseen by everyone. It was interesting, listening to the customers and their small talk. The shopkeeper was unkempt and seemed a little on edge, but otherwise seemed like a regular fellow. 

 

Well, except for the contents of his basement. 

 

Arthur finally came in and perused the ammo until the last customer exited the building. 

 

Pulling out his revolver and pointing it at the shopkeeper, Arthur's face turned into an intimidating scowl. 

 

“Lemme see your basement,” he growled. 

 

After some pleading, the shopkeeper led him down. Nora followed, wishing she had some peanuts to snack on. 

 

She watched as Arthur freed the poor young man from his shackles. She winced when Arthur knocked out the shopkeeper with the end of his pistol. And she sighed with disdain when he stole a rifle in the basement and left. 

 

“Goddammit,” she muttered as she walked out of the building, trailing behind Arthur and planning her next move. 

 

“I hear that a lot.”

 

To her credit, she didn't yelp like she had been. She was just a little bit startled. Just a bit. She turned to see the man in the top hat saunter towards her, his hands behind his back. 

 

“He–”

 

“Took a rifle. Yes, I know.”

 

“Can–”

 

“No, you can't do anything about it. Remember? It's his choice.” 

 

“Could you–”

 

“I'll stop when your face stops making that adorable annoyed look every time I answer.”

 

Nora just threw her hands up in frustrated defeat. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sort of know where I'm going with this fic. This is 100% me just working out my feelings about the plot of RDR2, so if you enjoyed this too, then thank you. A lot of this is from Nora's POV, because most of us have played these missions & random encounters before, so I didn't want to rehash Arthur's POV for it. Also if you haven't found the creepy shack in the bayou yet... go do that.


	2. Tribulation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora spends some quality time with Arthur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally beat Chapter 6. So this story is moving forward full force, because I have FEELS that I need to work through.

A few days had passed. The man in the top hat had given her various things to do, like setting a horse free so that it would eventually gallop in the path of a stage coach that would set off some other chain of events, but at the end of the day, she always ended up checking in on Arthur, watching him hunt or ride his horse around, or just sit by his side as he cooked at the campfire. She knew he couldn't see her unless it was time to give him another trial, but she stayed nearby anyway, until he went to sleep. At that point, she always felt more like a creep and would either observe his fellow gang members, or just go back to the man with the top hat for something else to do in the world. She didn’t sleep, she didn’t eat. It was weird not having these things to worry about.

 

Arthur’s future was unchangeable, she knew that. She knew it would be better to stay away, to separate herself from him.

 

But she couldn't. Not after seeing his life in a flash, not after feeling the emotions roiling in him. There was a sweet melancholy to his life that she couldn't look away from. She just wanted to hold this sad cowboy and tell him that he was worth more than he believed.

 

Tonight he was humming to himself as he cooked some meat. He had a good hunting day, and was enjoying some of the spoils before he brought the rest to his gang. His voice blended with the soft noises of the forest, the rustling of the leaves and the quiet calls of animals around. A soft baritone of a melody, ever so slightly off key but smooth as butter, wrapped around Nora like a warm blanket.

 

She found herself humming with him. After a few minutes, he stopped to drink, and started coughing. Frowning, she reached out to rub his back. Before she could touch him, Arthur's cough calmed and he breathed a little better. Nora looked at her hand in wonder, curious if it was coincidence or not.

 

Distracted by the thought, she started when Arthur walked through her to grab some herbs from his satchel to make tonics with. It reminded her that she was just a ghost, unable to affect the world unless she was showing someone a crossroads or if she was doing something for the man in the top hat.

 

Shaking her head at herself, she watched Arthur’s hands as he worked, tearing the leaves and boiling them carefully before pouring the concoction into a bottle. She wondered at his focus, his quiet expertise.

 

When he was done, he sat back and looked up at the stars. The sky was beautiful, like diamonds on an indigo canvas. She turned to look at the cowboy, seeing his wind tousled hair and the light reflected in his eyes. Nora couldn't help herself and started to sing. Maybe she was a singer before she died. She didn't remember, her memories of life were fuzzy at best.

 

“... _So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue_ …“

 

As she sang, she felt more than saw a silver glow wrap around her. She didn't notice that Arthur had started staring directly at her until after she had finished her song.

 

“Well, I'll be damned. You an angel?”

 

“Me? No. At least, I don't think so. Just… passing through, I guess.” Nora was thrown off. It wasn't time for another trial, was it? Why could he see her now?

 

“You told me about that boy stuck in that basement. You clearly are somethin’ divine.”

 

“I just told you to check the basement. I didn't tell you about the boy.”

 

“Well, anyway, I set him free. Wasn't right, keepin’ him in there like that.”

 

Nora just nodded. She didn't mention that she knew what he did afterwards.

 

“You sing real good, by the way,” he said softly.

 

Nora blushed. “Thanks. I could sing for you again, if you like.”

 

Arthur's smile lit up his face, and Nora felt her heart lurch. “That'd be mighty fine,” he said, his voice so warm and soothing to her ears.

 

Nora thought about which song to sing, and she picked a happy song, about being in love and feeling on top of the world.

 

When she finished, Arthur clapped. Nora bowed and sat next to him, closer than she had when she was invisible. She looked at him, and he was looking at her in awe, like she really was some angel.

 

But she knew she wasn't. She was a… What the hell was she? She touched his arm again. Nothing this time except warmth, the texture of his arm hair and rough skin, and the beat of the blood through him. He was still alive, and she wanted so badly to keep him this way.

 

She wasn’t sure how her hand felt against his skin, but when his hand covered hers, she looked up at him and their eyes met. He reached up to touch her hair, and he let his fingers run through the strands.

 

“You feel like an angel,” he whispered, mesmerized by her auburn hair that flowed so easily in the wind, her soft touch on his arm that was making his heart beat faster.

 

Nora stared at him, wondering how this happened, how they got to be this close so quickly. Then she groaned as she felt the knowledge of the next trial seep into her brain, like someone was force feeding her molasses.

 

“If you ride towards Emerald Ranch tomorrow morning, you'll see someone trapped under a horse.”

 

Arthur was quiet for a moment. Then he sat back, the loss of his touch making her feel a bit colder. Then he said, to Nora's surprise, “So?”

 

Nora was about to snap and tell him to help, but she slammed her own mouth shut. She took a deep breath. “It's up to you. I'm just telling you what I know.”

 

Arthur nodded. “Okay. I guess this is God’s way of telling me to be a better person.”

 

“God doesn’t tell you anything. I’m just showing you a fork in the road. You choose which path to take,” she replied, realizing that she was parroting what the man in the top hat had told her. But she knew what Arthur would do. Because she _knew_ him, better than he seemed to know himself.

 

“Alright,” he finally said, noncommittally. He took a breath and changed the subject. “So, you always hangin’ around me? I just can’t see ya most of the time?”

 

Nora swallowed the urge to lie. She felt like it was something she used to do a lot; now was a good time to change. “I come around when I’m supposed to tell you something. And in the evenings, for a few hours if I’m free. So no, I’m not always around.”

 

“Huh.”

 

“I'm sorry. I'll try to make myself visible if I'm around. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure how I became visible this time. It just… happened.”

 

Arthur just chuckled. “Well, I don't think I'm deservin’ of a guardian angel at all. Grateful for even a part-time one.”

 

“I'm not an angel.”

 

“You sing like one.”

 

Nora didn't know what to say, other than mumbling a thanks. They sat in silence for a little while longer, until Nora couldn't stand it any longer. She got up and dusted off her pants.

 

“I guess I'd better go. See you soon, Arthur.”

 

Arthur just gave a quick wave as she disappeared. Leaning back and looking at the stars, he breathed out a quick laugh of disbelief. An angel? He didn't believe in anything, but she was real. The warmth of her still lingered on his arm, and he closed his eyes. Maybe there was something more out there after all.

 

***

 

Nora teleported away, back to the man in the top hat. She had learned to do it with just a side step, a shift in the world to bring her  where a familiar energy was located. Walking up to the man who was poking a campfire, she sat next to him to await her next task.

 

“So you talked with him?”

 

“Should I not have?”

 

“It’s up to you. After all, only you can choose your path,” the man said, without irony.

 

“Ah.” Nora got the feeling that she technically shouldn’t have done what she did. Did she accidentally influence him more than she should have? Would this change the way his future played out?

 

“Nothing can change his fate,” the man replied to her unspoken questions.

 

Nora just stayed silent. She felt her heart breaking for the outlaw, and knew that the man in the top hat was absolutely right.

 

“Besides,” the man finally said. “This is more for you than him.”

 

Nora, puzzled, put that comment away and asked for her next task.


	3. Torment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every interaction, every small touch, embedded him deeper into her heart.

Time was a fluid thing for Nora as she assisted the man with the top hat in his various tasks. They were getting more mundane, but also odder than ever. She had to take a human femur bone to the mountains and leave it on a round stone table; she took a crow’s corpse to a witch who could see her for some reason, and she hid up in a tree and shook a branch while a man was being robbed below, which spooked the robbers, and caused the man to run in fear from the tree. All strange things, but all things that took time as her teleporting ability only worked if she could find a familiar energy source near where she wanted to go. As it was, she ran a lot, or hitched rides on wagons if she didn’t feel like running. Being just a spirit, she didn’t get winded, so she could run forever. She also figured out that she could jump quite far, which helped when she had to go up and down mountainsides.

 

She wondered if the man in the top hat was purposely keeping her so busy, as she had hardly any time to check in on Arthur. She knew that the gang had gone through some serious issues recently, and she knew it was going to get worse.

 

When she had just a bit of time, she would pop into his room at the old manor in the south and say hello as he went to sleep, and in a strange way, just her appearing at his bedside brought a small smile to his face. The first time she had appeared to him like this, she just automatically reached out and briefly held his hand for a couple of moments before having to leave once more.

 

The first night, he didn’t hold her hand back, just let her soft skin rest on top of his hand and wondered at the fact that an angel was sitting next to him. The next time she appeared, and every time after, he turned his hand over and held her hand oh so gently. She was a strange, yet comforting presence in his life as he felt it crumbling at the edges.

 

After a week of these short visits, Nora felt the pull of the trials bringing her back to Arthur. She found him in his room at sunset, staring at a letter in his hands, but she could tell he wasn’t really seeing it.

 

“Arthur?”

 

It took a couple seconds, but he eventually looked over at her. His eyes were sad for a heartbeat before he blinked and looked like his usual gruff self.

 

“You about to tell me something?”

 

“Am I that easy to read?”

 

“It ain’t night, so you must be here for a reason other than just holdin’ hands.”

 

Nora smiled sadly. “Yes, you’re about to face… a trial of the heart.”

 

Arthur waved the letter in front of her. “You’re a little late for that.”

 

Nora sighed. She knew that letter was from his old love; it wasn’t what she had meant. She was thinking of the bank robbery that she knew Dutch & Hosea were planning, she knew how it was going to end. His trial was dealing with the aftermath.

 

“It’ll be… more than that.” She walked closer to him and placed a hand on his back. “Be strong, I believe in you.”

 

He looked at her. “I don’t know how you can. If you know me as you say.”

 

Nora didn’t know how to convince him that he was worth something more than just the gang’s muscle. She inclined her head towards the letter he was holding.

 

“So what will you do about her?”

 

Arthur was silent for a while. Nora wondered if he wasn’t going to answer her at all, when he slowly started to speak.

 

“This isn’t the first time she’s asked for help. But I’m a damn fool. I’ll always help her whenever she asks.”

 

 _Even if it rips your own heart out_ , Nora thought. She didn’t have all his memories per se, but she knew his feelings. The situation was definitely complicated, and yet his feelings rang true; love was love, even after all these years.

 

She moved her hand from his back to his arm. “Sometimes it's impossible to let go of someone.”

 

Arthur just nodded and looked back down at the letter. “Guess I'd better see what she wants in the morning.”

 

Then he turned to her. “Sounded like you know this feeling.”

 

Nora looked down at her feet. “I don’t… I don’t recall any memories of when I was alive, but I remember feelings, emotions. So the feeling of someone who stays in your heart, and you can’t get rid of them, no matter how many times it feels likes their presence stabs at you, I’m familiar with it.”

 

Arthur just mumbled wordlessly in agreement.

 

Watching him simmer in his own emotions, Nora started to feel fidgety; she wanted to let him be, but she also wanted to help. Not knowing what else to do, she sang a song as the sun set below the horizon outside of his balcony.

 

When she finished, she looked shyly over at Arthur, feeling a little ashamed that she just stuck around without any helpful suggestions. But his eyes were locked onto her, and he was watching her with a thoughtful expression.

 

“Um, sorry. I just. I don’t know. Felt like singing,” she finished lamely. “I’ll get going, let you rest.”

 

“Thanks,” he said quietly. “I know you were tryin’ ta cheer me up.”

 

She smiled at him, and disappeared. Arthur, to his credit, was used to this strange sight by now, and just sat down to write in his journal.

 

_Angel came by again. She was vague this time. Maybe that’s the test, to not know what is going to happen but to know that something WILL happen._

 

_At least I got to hear her sing a nice song before she left._

 

***

 

“You’re back early,” the man in the top hat remarked as she appeared beside him.

 

“I, uh, didn’t know what to do.”

 

The man looked at her with a droll stare.

 

Nora threw her hands up. “What was I supposed to say? I just told him—”

 

“I know. But could you have told him more? Should you have?”

 

Nora shut her mouth. He always asked her the hardest questions. She looked away from him and desperately wanted to run away.

 

“You can’t run from everything,” the man said quietly. “You told him just the right amount, by the way. Have a bit more belief in yourself.”

 

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

 

“You believe in Arthur, don’t you?”

 

“Well, yeah, but that’s…” She couldn’t put it into words. It was hard to describe why she believed that he would do the right thing other than just a feeling.

 

The man let the silence build until she couldn’t stand it.

 

“What?”

 

The man chuckled. “Let the quiet flow, Nora. Not all silence is as heavy as you make it to be. Sometimes, it can even been soothing.”

 

Nora just huffed. “Whatever. Anything I need to do right now?”

 

“As a matter of fact, I have a task for you…”

 

***

 

The next night, Nora peeked in on Arthur. He was sitting on his bed, writing in his journal. She quietly waited, unwilling to interrupt him while he was lost in his thoughts. The lantern flickered when she walked past it to sit on the ground next to his bed. He looked around for a moment, then kept writing.

 

When he finally put his pencil down, Nora took a deep breath and willed herself to appear.

 

“Hey there, Angel,” he said, unsurprised.

 

“Hey Arthur. How was… how are you?”

 

Arthur shrugged. “I’m alright.”

 

“You’re lying.”

 

“Yeah, well, I’m a bad man.”

 

Nora looked up at him and put a hand on his knee. “If you were truly a bad man, I wouldn’t spend time with you.”

 

Arthur nodded. “You got me there, I guess. But that don’t stop the fact that I’ve done a lot of bad in my life.”

 

“You’ve saved people too. You’ve helped the people here. You care for your gang.”

 

Arthur was quiet, unable to refute her words.

 

“You’re better than you think,” Nora finished. She patted his knee and got up. “I just wanted to check in with you. I… I can’t always be around, but when I am, you can always talk to me.”

 

Arthur looked up at her and gave her a wry smile. “Appreciate it.”

 

She smiled at him and disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I'm conveying the emotions that are swirling through Nora as she interacts with Arthur. Also the song she sings to Arthur is "Yesterday Once More" by The Carpenters. Thank you again for reading.


	4. Tempest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora can only help so much, but time is running out.

Nora spent another week doing lots of miscellaneous tasks. She didn’t check in on Arthur because she was afraid of what she would see. She knew that the bank robbery had happened already; when she was digging around in an abandoned warehouse in Saint Denis for a specific rusty key for the man in the top hat, she had heard the lawmen discussing the events of the previous day, and her heart clenched. She didn’t want to see the outcome.

 

But one day, as she sat next to the man in the top hat, waiting for her next job, she felt the pull in her head, and groaned.

 

“You can’t avoid him forever.”

 

“I know, I know,” she grumbled before she disappeared.

 

***

 

Nora appeared in a dirty hut and froze at the sight before her. Arthur was beaten, tied up to a chair. A man was punching him, threatening to cut him open if he didn’t talk.

 

On instinct, Nora surged forward and reached out to the man to stop his next blow. Of course, he went right through her, but he pulled back after punching Arthur and shivered. She looked at her fist, and shoved it into his chest. He stepped back and took a deep breath, seeming winded all of a sudden. Picking up a rock, Nora threw it at the opposite wall. The man looked over and started to walk towards where the rock landed.

 

Arthur took the opportunity to get himself free of his chair and knock the man out. He quickly untied the other prisoners, grabbed a gun, and herded them all out of the hut. As he left, he passed by Nora, who was watching everything with a worried expression. He caught sight of her, for just a split second, but knew that she had helped, and nodded in her general direction before running out the door.

 

The feeling she had when the trials came hadn’t left her brain. It felt like her thoughts were muddied, like she was thinking through a fog, except for the one piece of information that kept coming up in her mind, and until she delivered that information to its destined listener, she had to keep searching until she could say what she had to say. The fact that she still had to tell Arthur something meant that she had to stick around and follow him.

 

She kept pace, watching him gun down soldier after soldier, taking grazes and scrapes as he tumbled through the jungle. She saw the blood running down his face, the wounds on his body, and she hurt for him, her heart aching for how much he was going through, just because he had followed the wrong star.

 

She helped where she could, distracting soldiers so Arthur could get in more shots. Nora wondered if she was condemning herself to hell, by getting these men killed who were just doing their job. 

 

But then she weighed the fact that they were shooting at Arthur, and stopped feeling bad for them. 

 

By the time he had freed the remaining prisoners, he was exhausted. There were no more soldiers, and the others were busy helping the wounded back to their camp, so he made his way to a small waterfall he had seen on his way here to clean up and rest. 

 

Nora followed him, knowing that he was tired and probably didn't want to hear what she had to say. But the pulling feeling in her head was starting to become a pounding ache. 

 

“Arthur,” she whispered as she came up behind him as he kneeled down to wash his face at the foot of the waterfall. 

 

He immediately looked behind him, and his shoulders remained tense when he saw her. 

 

“So is this what you was talkin’ about? A trial of the heart?”

 

She nodded solemnly. 

 

He turned away from her. “One helluva trial.”

 

“I'm sorry.”

 

“Is it your fault this is happenin’?” 

 

“No!”

 

“Then don't apologize.”

 

Nora felt tears well up, and she blinked them away. He was right, it wasn’t her fault. But she felt like it was. Maybe she should have said more. But would that have changed anything?

 

She was pulled from her thoughts when Arthur started having a coughing fit, leaning over as flecks of blood dripped into the water. Kneeling next to him, she rubbed his back, and his cough lessened, but his breaths were still wheezy.

 

“Thank you,” he mumbled. Looking at her with a guarded expression, he asked, “Do I get off this island?”

 

“Yes, you do,” she answered. The second she said it, the fog from her head lifted. Was that it?

 

He nodded. “Alright. I’m guessin’ you can’t tell me what’s after that.”

 

“You—”

 

Nora tried to tell him, but her head pounded in pain and she doubled over, clutching her temples. It felt as if fifty nails were being driven into her skull at once, and then being pulled out at once, and she cried out wordlessly in anguish.

 

Arthur wrapped his arms around her, and as the pain subsided, she felt his warmth and wanted to stay like this forever. Eventually he pulled away and looked at her, his hands on her shoulders.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Yeah. I… I tried to tell you, but apparently I really can’t.”

 

“Guess now you know. Don’t try that again.”

 

Nora nodded obediently. It still felt like her head was about to get pulled apart, and her eyes still felt strained from the intense pain that had pulsed through her head. Her eyes shimmered with the tears that the pain had brought, and she looked away, ashamed of her weakness. One headache and she wanted to cry. She had seen all the wounds that Arthur had taken and he barely flinched.

 

“Hey.”

 

She didn’t say anything.

 

He gently turned her head back to look at him. “It’s alright,” he said gently. “I appreciate that you tried.”

 

His kindness, the kindness that he claimed he didn’t have, broke her heart. She started to cry, at first softly, but the tears wouldn’t stop, and she helplessly let him hold her as she cried for him. She knew he didn’t know why she was crying, and she intended to keep it that way. If it was her, she wouldn’t want to know her future either; it would just consume her thoughts and eat away at her.

 

To withhold this information, to just be there to give him a chance to do the right thing, was painful knowing the end. That no matter how much good he did, it was still his fate to die. 

 

She finally took a deep breath and calmed down, hating herself for wasting his time, for being so helpless. Looking up at him, she noted how tenderly he looked at her, and her heart skipped a beat. 

 

If only a man like him had come into her life sooner. If only she wasn’t dead. If only he wasn't trapped in this fate.

 

All she could do is be grateful for his compassion. 

 

“Thank you,” she finally said. “I needed that.”

 

“I guess even angels have a hard time, huh?”

 

She smiled, and didn’t bother correcting him about being an angel.

 

_ I need you for this task _ , she heard in her head. The man in the top hat had taken to calling for her if he needed something immediate. She sighed.

 

“I’m being summoned,” she said. She leaned in and gave Arthur a kiss on the cheek, much to his surprise. “I’ll see you later,” she said as she sidestepped and disappeared.

 

***

 

“I’m here, what did you need me to do?

 

“Take this basket of fruit and leave it by the road here,” he said, marking a spot on her map.

 

“Alright,” she said and turned to leave.

 

“Nora.”

 

She stopped and turned back to him. “Yeah?”

 

“You know you aren’t supposed to help him too much.”

 

“I… I know.”

 

The man nodded. “I know you understand my words. But does your heart agree?”

 

Nora swallowed and looked away before finally mumbling, “I don’t know.”

 

He sighed. “His fate will not change. How he reaches that fate is up to him, but those small things you do... Even the flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a tornado.”

 

She stared at him, trying to understand what he said.

 

“Go on, the people who will find that fruit aren’t too far behind.”

 

Nora took that as a dismissal, and started running down the road. As she ran, his words kept spinning in her head.

 

Butterflies and tornadoes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters, folks, then it's out of my system and I can go back to smutty smut smut land.


	5. Terminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As things get worse for Arthur, Nora begins to withdraw, for her heart can't handle what's to come.

Nora had kept herself busy. Even when she had a free moment, she just went back to the man in the top hat to ask for another task. While he had plenty of things that needed to be done, he also asked her every time if she needed a short break.

 

“No, I’m fine.”

 

At first, the man would ask her if she was avoiding Arthur. She always shrugged noncommittally, and he couldn’t get a further answer out of her. Now, the man just nodded at her answer, and gave her another task.

 

But she couldn’t avoid her charge forever. The pull in her head started one afternoon, while she was waiting for the man in the top hat to put together a pile of books into a crate.

 

“Time to go,” he said as he got up and dusted his hands off. Looking at Nora, he noted the anxiety weighing in her features, and wondered if she would make it through. She caught him looking at her and he stared harder at her. 

 

“It's your choice.”

 

Without a word, Nora just nodded at him and disappeared.

 

***

 

She both wanted to see him and didn’t want to see him. Concern for Arthur invaded her stray thoughts, when she wasn’t focusing on her tasks. She couldn’t do anything about his fate, and she was trying to cut off her feelings about it, but every time she saw him, she just felt so hopeless. It broke her heart to know that nothing would save him in the end.

 

She finally noticed her surroundings. She was on a street in St. Denis, behind Arthur’s horse. She noticed him swaying, then sliding off the horse, and then, in a violent coughing fit, collapsing.

 

“No!”

 

She ran to him, kneeled down and touched his forehead. He opened his eyes for a second, but then closed them again and coughed feebly, blood spilling from his mouth.

 

Nora looked around; there was no one. She ran down the alley to a bigger road, and seeing one man walking towards her, she called to him.

 

“Mister! Please! Hear me! Help Arthur!”

 

He stopped for a moment, and looked through her, to see Arthur on the ground, trying to get up weakly. He immediately ran over to help him up, and she sighed in relief when he guided Arthur to a doctor.

 

She stood inside, listened to the diagnosis, and stepped outside before the doctor gave him a shot. The pull in her head was still there, but she didn’t think talking to him at this moment was right. That, and she had to walk off this pain in her heart.

 

Breathing deeply, Nora looked up at the sky and watched the clouds start to gather as she stepped into the street. To her surprise, a deer appeared, watching her. She slowly walked towards it, and it trotted away, just fast enough to be out of reach, but slowly enough to make sure she followed. She reached the intersection and the deer stopped. She walked up to it slowly, and the deer watched her, almost sadly. Just as she reached out to pet it, its ears twitched and it looked down the road.

 

Arthur was walking up towards them, and at this point, he had seen the deer. Running through her, the deer took off down the road, and both she and Arthur gave chase as the phantom deer bounded down the road and faded into the distance.

 

Stopping to catch his breath, Arthur looked around, confused for a second, then whistled for his horse. She realized he couldn’t see her, and decided to just follow him unseen so he wouldn’t look like he was talking to himself, at least until they reached an empty road. When his horse trotted over, he hopped on, and she jumped up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He paused and looked behind him, through her, but a small smile appeared on his face.

 

“I know you’re there, angel,” he whispered.

 

Nora’s heart skipped a beat. She leaned in to whisper in his ear, since he knew she was there. 

 

“On your way back to camp, there’ll be a woman captured by truly bad men.”

 

“Of course,” he whispered as he urged his horse forward.

 

The pull in her head disappeared, but she stayed, unwilling to leave him at the moment. With his warmth seeping into her body, and the strong feeling of wanting to protect him swirling through her mind, she stayed with him, watching him rescue the woman by killing the two men and quickly untying her, and then offering her a ride back to a small town fifteen minutes away. She hopped off the horse when he helped the woman up, and just stood waiting at that same spot for his return.

 

When he did, she made herself appear.

 

“Hi,” he said casually.

 

“Hi,” she said back. She walked up to his horse and hopped on, wrapping her arms around him again. “You didn’t question the trial this time,” she said.

 

“Been thinkin’,” he said. “About what I’ve done. What I didn’t do. And what I should do now.”

 

Her heart clenched. He had already been thinking about this. She had been avoiding it.

 

“Hafta just face it, I guess,” he said somberly. 

 

She looked at him from where she sat, his shoulders carrying the weight of so much. How could one person keep going like this? Nora was overwhelmed by the inner strength it took. She wished she had even half of that determination. 

 

“You're the strongest person I know.”

 

“Sounds like you don't know a whole lotta people.”

 

Nora stared at the back of his head, wondering how he couldn't just take a compliment. She lay her ear against his back and closed her eyes; maybe she could hear the whispers of his heart to find out. 

 

All she heard was a din of self-doubt. And within that chaos was the constant hum of complete disregard of his own worth. It was disheartening. 

 

“If I were in your shoes, I would have run away so far that I couldn't look back even if I wanted to. But that would mean leaving all those people behind. I would feel bad, but I'm selfish and weak. You're not. You're putting others before yourself, and that's something I'm too afraid to do.”

 

Arthur didn't say anything for a while, and Nora began to wonder if he even heard her. 

 

Finally, he spoke. “You hurt yourself in Guarma tryin’ ta help me. And…” He trailed off for a moment. “You spend your free time with me when I know you don't hafta.”

 

_ You have no idea how much I ran away from you,  _ she thought. She felt guilty for not standing by him more. Just because she couldn't stand the pain in her own heart, she denied him the comfort of her presence, or at least what little comfort she could give him. 

 

_ Even a flap of a butterfly's wings can cause a tornado _ . 

 

Maybe just by getting Arthur to open his eyes to his innate goodness, Nora had helped the others escape from this mess. She could only see Arthur's future, but the others were a mystery to her. She rather liked the Marston family and hoped they would get out, along with Sadie and the other women. And Charles too, he seemed nice and she could tell he was a good influence on Arthur.

 

She wondered if there were others like her; she hadn't seen any other spirits around, but she couldn't be the only one. Maybe she'd ask the man in the top hat.

 

“Angel?” 

 

“Sorry, I was thinking.” 

 

“S'okay.”

 

They were both quiet for a while. And then, in possibly the softest voice, Arthur murmured, “Can you stay with me, please? Just ‘til I get back to camp.”

 

“Of course.” 

 

She started singing, as she did when she was trying to work through her emotions. 

 

“ _...all my best memories come back clearly to me, some can even make me cry…” _

 

Nora thought it was odd that she could remember songs, but not her own memories. She could recall emotions and feelings of events that clearly had happened to her, but not the event itself. Perhaps it was a selective amnesia that kicked in when she died, or perhaps she had wished for memory loss while she was alive. As she sang this song in particular, she felt like she wanted her memories back, if only to not feel so lost anymore.

 

“Your voice,” Arthur said after her song ended, “it's real soothin’.”

 

“I'll sing for you, whenever you ask,” she said spontaneously. 

 

Arthur turned to look at her. “Thank you,” he said in a quietly reverent tone. 

 

They were reaching the camp at Beaver Hollow. As he slowed his horse, he felt her lean closer, her grip on his waist tightening for a moment as her lips tickled his ear. 

 

“I'm with you, Arthur.”

 

He smiled softly as the arm that was wrapped around his waist faded. 

 

***

 

Nora appeared next to the man in the top hat, looking solemn. 

 

He assessed her state, and just nodded approvingly. 

 

“So, have you figured out why your memories are gone?” 

 

She shook her head. “No, but since you asked, I imagine you had something to do with that?” 

 

“I have something to do with everything.”

 

Nora just sighed, exasperated. “Well, can you tell me if there are others like me?” 

 

“There are tons of others like you. You just can't see them.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because they aren't tied to your fate,” he answered. 

 

That made no sense to her. Wasn't she dead, so whatever this was, whether it was purgatory or limbo or something else, her end?

 

“It could be your end, if you want it to be,” he replied cryptically. 

 

Nora still wasn't used to him answering her unspoken questions. 

 

“Anyway, more things need to get done. I'm afraid I'll be taking some of your time for a bit.”

 

Nora just nodded as he described her next task. 

 

***

 

Three days had passed, and she felt a pull in her mind, stronger than ever, like someone had reached into her brain and was pulling at it like taffy. She set down the bucket she was carrying, but picked it back up again, unsure if she should finish her task first, or go straight to Arthur. 

 

_ Go to him _ , the man in the top hat's voice whispered in her head.  _ Some things can wait.  _

 

Perturbed by the omniscience of the man in the top hat, Nora side stepped to Arthur.

 

***

 

“Oh no,” she gasped as she saw him passed out along the side of the road. His horse was nudging him mournfully.

 

Looking around, she didn’t see anyone. No one to help. She started to panic.

 

_ Breathe. Remember what I taught you about sensing the world. _

 

Of course. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The world was a monochrome place, except for a gold speck on the horizon to the east. She opened her eyes and started running towards that life force. She noticed the landscape whipping past her, faster than her normal running speed, and was grateful that she acquired a weird new power, because she needed someone to help Arthur. He wasn’t supposed to die here. Not now.

 

She found the German family that had helped Arthur before, their wagon going vaguely in his direction, but would have bypassed the road where he had collapsed. She stuck her ethereal hand through the yoke, breaking the connection with the horse, and leapt onto the horse, forcing it to run towards Arthur. 

 

The father got off the wagon and started running after it. He was surprised when he saw who his horse had stopped near. Nora hopped off the horse and followed as the man took Arthur & the horses back to his wagon, and the family nursed him back to consciousness. Once he was awake though, Arthur quickly got up and stumbled out of the home, whistling for his horse to ride back to Beaver Hollow.

 

She leapt onto his horse and wrapped an arm around his waist. Even though she was invisible, he looked back and nodded in her general direction.

 

“Did you send that family to me?” Arthur asked once they were alone on the road.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“You’re welcome,” she said. She had a feeling he was heading back to camp. She closed her eyes, and  _ saw _ the next event. Her head started to pound. The trials had never hurt her this much before.

 

“Save her,” she gritted out, past the pain in her head.

 

“Who?”

 

“Abigail,” Nora managed to say before she fell off his horse and passed out.

 

***

 

Nora woke up where she had fallen, horse tracks all around her and under her. The sun had already set, and the moon was high in the sky. How long had she passed out? She cradled her head in her hands, letting the coolness of her skin soothe her headache. Then she noted that she could see through her hands, and panicked.

 

“Oh god, oh god, what is this?”

 

The man in the top hat appeared next to her. “Time is growing short,” he said quietly.

 

“What?”

 

“Go back to him. This is it.”

 

Nora’s eyes widened. She had to reach Arthur. She closed her eyes and teleported.

 

The man in the top hat blew out a breath he had been holding. For all his power, there were some things he could not control, one of them being a human heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the final chapter are pretty long. Writing this wrung out my heart; all the feels I had while playing the last third of the game are all laid out here. I hope you understand.


	6. Time and Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur is reaching the end. Will Nora be there with him?

Nora appeared on Arthur’s horse as he approached Beaver Hollow. Touching his back, she saw what had just happened in his memories and knew what he was about to do.

 

“Be strong,” she whispered, and Arthur nodded, hearing her clearly. She stayed on the horse as he got off and walked into the camp.

 

As the drama before her unfolded, she watched, horrified: the confrontation between Arthur & Dutch, the surprise return of John, poor Susan being shot, and the chase through the caves. All she could do was run after them; she had tried to distract one of the Pinkertons, but as she reached down to grab a rock, her hand went right through it. She looked at herself, seeming more transparent than ever. She was more ghost-like now than when she first started watching over him; it seemed as if her solidity was tied to his life.

 

The Pinkertons chased Arthur & John through the mountains, with her following behind. At this point she had resigned herself to the fact that she couldn’t interfere this time.

 

As they reached the peak, her feelings of helplessness and grief overwhelmed her. She couldn’t bear to see what was about to happen without being able to do anything about it. Turning away, she started to run down the mountain.

 

“Running away?”

 

The man in the top hat appeared before her, and she stopped short of running into him.

 

“I can’t watch. It’s too painful. I can’t… he’s… he’s going to….” Tears started streaming down her face, and she couldn’t deal with the heartache that was paralyzing her.

 

“If that is your choice,” he said. “I suppose you didn't mean it when you said you were with him.”

 

“I meant it!”

 

“Are you with him now?”

 

Nora had no response to that. She had run away again, and she hated herself for doing it.

 

The man placed a hand on her shoulder. “If you truly want to honor his memory, you’ll stand by his side and witness his final act of love. That is what you are, after all. A Witness, to hold vigil for those who pass, to carry on their feelings into the world.”

 

Nora gaped. After the man said it, she was surprised she had forgotten it this whole time. Why had she forgotten?

 

As always, the man answered her unspoken question. “You forgot because it wasn’t important to you before.”

 

A deep shame flooded Nora’s heart. She was so shallow before. So weak. She was unable to face any kind of emotional pain or suffering without running away, putting up walls that would save her heart with no regard for anyone else.

 

But watching Arthur over the past months had changed her. To come to terms with his end, to face his fate, to do the _right thing_ despite everything falling apart around him, he had a strength of heart that Nora wished she had.

 

And with that, Nora took a deep breath and looked up at the man in the top hat, determination in her eyes. The man smiled and nodded at her.

 

“Go. Honor him,” he said.

 

Nora turned and ran up the mountain, leaping and bounding like a deer through the trees and rocks, just in time to catch Arthur’s last words to John as he placed his hat on John’s head.

 

She watched him hold off the Pinkertons, watched as he fought Micah, watched as Dutch saw, truly saw Arthur for the first time in a long time as Arthur painfully spoke his truth.

 

Nora could do nothing but watch from a distance. She had never felt so helpless, and she wished that there was another way. But she knew the inevitability of fate by now. This was how it was meant to be. So she watched. She didn't look away, even as the tears streamed down her face.

 

As Arthur began to crawl to the edge of the rocks just as the sun was rising, she finally ran to him, and as he looked at the sun, she knelt down and held his hand, desperate for one more moment.

 

His eyes flickered to hers. She was surprised she’d be able to appear to him now, as translucent as she was becoming.

 

“Angel?” he rasped.

 

“Arthur,” she whispered.

 

“Did I do good?”

 

“Yes,” she replied, choking back a sob. “You did good.”

 

A peaceful smile slid over his features, and he looked at the sun again. He took a slow, deep breath, unburdened. And then breathed no more.

 

Nora just stared for a moment in shock. Then she doubled over and sobbed, letting her pain out for this complicated man who had somehow captivated her heart.

 

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed. She felt reality distort next to her, and she looked up at the man with the top hat, her tears still coming down her face.

 

“How do you do this? How do you deal with the pain?”

 

The man looked out at the valley below before turning back to her. “I don’t feel the pain, for I know that everyone gets what they deserve in the end.”

 

He held his hand out to her. Nora looked at Arthur’s peaceful face and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before taking the man’s hand.

 

They teleported somewhere in the west, into a beautiful meadow with deer & buffalo everywhere. She took in this pristine natural environment with her mouth open in awe, until she spotted someone sitting on a tall rock.

 

It took a few moments for her mind to register who she was seeing.

 

Then she gasped.

 

And then she ran.

 

The figure was peacefully watching the deer, a serene smile on his face. Then he looked over at her running towards him, and his grin broadened. She bound into his open arms and he held her tight.

 

“Hey,” he said breathlessly.

 

She just stepped back and looked at him. He looked like he was in the prime of his life, hearty, healthy, and whole. There was a glow to his features that she couldn’t quite place, and when he smiled, just for her, her heart melted.

 

“You saved me,” he finally said.

 

“You saved yourself. I just showed you the crossroads.”

 

Arthur chuckled. “You did more than that. You believed in me. And you reminded me that others believed in me too.”

 

Then he pulled her in for a tight hug, and she hugged him back, happy to know that he ended up in the west, in a place so close to his heart.

 

He pulled back to look her in the eyes. He brushed his hand through her soft hair and she leaned into his touch.

 

“You got a name? Sorry I never asked,” he said shyly.

 

“Nora.”

 

“Lovely name for an angel.” After a few moments, he asked sheepishly, “Could you… sing for me, Nora?”

 

She smiled brightly. “Of course.”

 

She took a step back from him, but kept holding his hands as she sang a song suddenly came to her.

 

“... _every time I try to tell you, all the words just came out wrong… so I’ll have to say I love you, in a song_ …”

 

Nora trailed off as she saw golden sparkles appearing around Arthur. Looking worried, she reached out for him and clung to him as he began to fade away.

 

“Arthur!”

 

“It’s alright,” he said, as he drew closer to her and caressed her cheek. She could feel his warmth, even as his fingers became more transparent.

 

“I’ll always remember you,” she said, determined to make sure his last sight of her was a smile. “Always.”

 

He smiled back as he faded completely, the golden sparkles floating up into the air like fireflies. Nora’s heart felt heavy once more as she watched the last bit of light disappear.

 

“You’ve grown,” the man in the top hat said after a few minutes as he walked up to her.

 

“Yeah, I guess so.” She turned to look at the man. “I won’t run away anymore.”

 

The man nodded and gave her a fatherly smile. “I think you’ve earned your second chance,” he finally said.

 

“What—”

 

***

 

Nora woke up to the sound of a doorbell. She was lying on her couch, a mild headache making her dizzy. Sitting up, she looked around at her small apartment, and just took it all in for a minute. The sun was high in the sky. It must have been around noon.

 

_That dream felt far too real._

 

Her radio was playing softly in the background. Looking at her calendar, she slowly started to remember things. It was 1974, not 1899. The events of the morning came crawling back into her memories. A rough phone call from her ex and a call to the landlord of her apartment about the rickety old furnace. She had laid down just for a moment, just to close her eyes.

 

She looked at the mess of torn up photos and the four empty bottles of beer next to it on the coffee table, and remembered last night’s cry fest. Then she realized the reason her memories disappeared in her dream. She had always run away from her emotions, from anything that caused her heartache. She knew she had broken hearts because of her weakness, ever since hers was broken the first time. She had blamed her memories of bad events, blamed everything and everyone but herself for being the way she was. For being a coward.

 

It was time to change, time to stop running, to stop causing pain to others just because she couldn’t handle it herself. She would shoulder the burden of her own feelings, and stop being weak.

 

Her doorbell rang again, making her jump. She was still shaking away the feelings of the very vivid dream, of a man, no, of a human being, who meant so much to her. As she walked to the door, she was surprised how real her dream had felt; she still remembered the feel of his hand holding hers.

 

She opened the door.

 

“Hi there, ma’am.”

 

Nora blinked. Then she rubbed her eyes, not believing what she was seeing. She glanced at the repairman’s name tag and froze. There was no way.

 

“I just fixed a gas leak in the furnace, wanted to let you know to open your windows and air out your apartment.”

 

“I, uh, thank you,” she stammered. She went to the windows in her kitchen and living room, opening each one, giving herself some time to think.

 

“You alright there, miss?” He stood in the doorway, leaning against the door frame and watching her with some concern in his eyes. “You might have some carbon monoxide poisoning if you’re feelin’ dizzy.”

 

“The doorbell woke me up, but yes, my head is feeling foggy,” she replied.

 

“Good thing I woke you then. You could've died.”

 

Nora's eyes widened. Did she die? Was this her second chance? She turned to the man and after a couple of seconds of studying him, remembered her manners.

 

“Sorry, I must be out of it. Thank you for waking me. I’m Nora, by the way.”

 

“Arthur,” he replied with a nod of his head. “You got a lovely name.”

 

The drawl wasn’t quite the same, his hair was a bit longer, his beard was gone. But it still _felt_ like him, and his voice was still that warm honey that she loved to listen to. She quickly looked at his ring finger. Nothing. So she took a breath, gathered her courage, and decided to take a chance. She stepped closer to him.

 

“Hey, maybe we can go get lunch. Is it your break soon? The fresh air would help me out.”

 

Arthur’s eyes widened in surprise, but soon his face lit up with a smile. “Sure, that sounds mighty fine.”

 

As she went to grab her purse off the dining room table, he chuckled softly.

 

“What is it?” she asked.

 

“I was just thinking I didn’t have a chance with an angel like yourself. Then you ask me out for lunch. I’m one lucky man today.”

 

Nora smiled and took his hand. It felt the same, rough and warm. They intertwined their fingers, like they had been together forever. As they left, she heard the radio play one of her favorite songs, and took it as a good sign.

  
“ _We’ve only just begun…_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Nora Campbell. She died due to carbon monoxide in her apartment in 1974. Why? Because she fell asleep on her couch, after dealing with some stressful phone calls with her shitty ex-boyfriend. She’s kinda new-agey in her beliefs, so she believes in reincarnation, believes in her own personal spirituality and to be good to others for the sake of being good, not for some reward in the afterlife. She didn't exactly deserve to die, but she had a tendency to run from her problems and any emotional hardships; she left her ex partly because she wasn't happy, partly because she found it hard to talk about any issues, so she just left without even trying. She’s always done this, and her inability to stand and face her own problems is her major flaw, one I can definitely relate to.
> 
> Songs used throughout this fic are: Carpenters (Close to You, 1970; Top of the World, 1972; We’ve Only Just Begun, 1970; Yesterday Once More 1973), Jim Croce (I’ll have to Say I Love You in a Song, 1974)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed my angsty cowboy story. I almost ended the story after Arthur fades into light, but that was too sad for me. Thank you so much for reading this story; I poured my feelings into Nora and let her express the pain and sorrow that a well written story and character arc invoked in me, and helped heal my broken heart. I hope it helped heal some of you too.


End file.
